Links typically sourced from Hacker News, TLDR.tech, or Software Lead Weekly
Read on January 29, 2026
In my last post, I wrote about technical deflation. We’re seeing the cost of code is dropping so fast that we need to change our tech debt payment plans. The smart teams…
Read more →Read on January 26, 2026
Non-obvious advice that I wish I learned sooner.
Read more →Read on January 24, 2026
Read more →Read on January 23, 2026
Random thoughts
Read more →Read on January 18, 2026
Every decade brings new promises: this time, we'll finally make software development simple enough that we won't need so many developers. From COBOL to AI, the pattern repeats. Business leaders gro...
Read more →Read on January 8, 2026
Read more →Read on January 5, 2026
Hunting timeless insights into humans and software and helping others on the way.
Read more →Read on January 5, 2026
Lessons learned from 14 years of engineering at Google, focusing on what truly matters beyond just writing great code.
Read more →Read on January 3, 2026
POSSE is an abbreviation for Publish (on your) Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere, the practice of posting content on your own site first, then publishing copies or sharing links to third parties (like social media silos) with original post links to provide viewers a path to directly interacting with your content.
Read more →Read on January 2, 2026
How to win the war for the soul of the internet, and build the Web We Want.
Read more →Read on January 1, 2026
The Compute Theory of Everything, grading the homework of a minor deity, and the acoustic preferences of Atlantic salmon
Read more →Read on December 18, 2025
This talk focuses on that evil little term “UX/UI,” which is responsible for so much confusion and tension in open-source projects. Not only does it unnecess...
Read more →Read on December 7, 2025
Several years ago, I published a critique of manager READMEs that succeeded in stirring up a lot of feelings, pro and con. I’d like to…
Read more →Read on November 27, 2025
We are losing something precious in the age of LLMs: our unique voices.
Read more →Read on November 6, 2025
: They have no need to prove their bonafides
Read more →Read on November 4, 2025
It is 1995.
Read more →Read on November 3, 2025
A deep dive into how thoughtful URL design can enhance usability, shareability, and performance. Learn what state belongs in URLs, common pitfalls to avoid, and practical patterns for modern web apps.
Read more →Read on October 8, 2025
I feel like vibe coding is pretty well established now as covering the fast, loose and irresponsible way of building software with AI—entirely prompt-driven, and with no attention paid to …
Read more →Read on October 4, 2025
Julie Zhuo is the former VP and Head of Design at Facebook (now Meta), author of the bestselling book The Making of a Manager, and co-founder of Sundial, an ...
Read more →Read on September 20, 2025
Book launch! + Predictions for the manager in the era of AI
Read more →Read on September 13, 2025
In my last post I talked about how I spent a week heads down using AI to work on a greenfield engineering metrics tool. As I built it, I’d often navigate the web app and spot things that needed to be fleshed out. Sometimes it was a small typo; other times it was a bigger […]
Read more →Read on September 6, 2025
There is cost to your lifestyle.
Read more →Read on August 23, 2025
We cannot help but communicate and our failure to embrace that reality can leave our teams in a state of information insecurity. Instead, we need to own our responsibility and be proactive.
Read more →Read on August 13, 2025
Rodents of Unusual Size? I don't believe they exist. There’s endless discourse around tech debt. Kellan has some really good categorizations of different types, Will Larson has a great explainer of organization debt in his book, and I also like the idea of product debt. Throughout my career, I’ve been an engineer complaining about tech debt, a manager prioritizing (and deprioritizing) addressing tech debt, and a product manager, where I assume I primarily inspire the creation of new tech debt.
Read more →Read on August 11, 2025
Read more →Read on August 3, 2025
The software industry is at an inflection point unlike anything in its brief history. Generative AI is all anyone can talk about. It has rendered entire product…
Read more →Read on August 3, 2025
It is wild to think that it has been only a handful of weeks. Claude Code has considerably changed my relationship to writing and maintaining code at scale. I still write code at the same level of quality, but I feel like I have a new freedom of expression which is hard to fully articulate. Claude Code has decoupled myself from writing every line of code, I still consider myself fully responsible for everything I ship to Puzzmo, but the ability to instantly create a whole scene instead of going line by line, word by word is incredibly powerful.
Read more →Read on August 1, 2025
Read more →Read on July 21, 2025
AI Engineer at ANZ Bank working on intelligent systems, LLM optimization, and scalable ML platforms.
Read more →Read on July 21, 2025
Feeding slop is an act of war
Read more →Read on July 16, 2025
The non-obvious insights, tactics and workflows Shopify used to bring an ambitious memo to life.
Read more →Read on July 14, 2025
Know how good your code needs to be for the task at hand. Start with a rough draft. Try to soften requirements if you can. Don't get distracted. Make small changes. Practice specific skills.
Read more →Read on July 8, 2025
Read more →Read on July 3, 2025
My thoughts on the future of coding careers in the age of AI, and why I believe that human creativity and ingenuity will always be in demand.
Read more →Read on June 21, 2025
As we approach the 10 year anniversary of the 1.0 release of Kubernetes, let's take stock of the successes and failures of the project in the wild. Also what would be on a wish list for a Kubernetes 2.0 release.
Read more →Read on June 18, 2025
And the most fun
Read more →Read on June 8, 2025
Max Mitchell's personal portfolio website showcasing his photography, YouTube videos, coding projects, and work history.
Read more →Read on June 5, 2025
Turn AI coding assistants into more reliable development partners
Read more →Read on May 31, 2025
Leading teams and building platforms across different contexts made me rethink. Some opinions proved reliable and continued to guide decisions. Others failed under pressure or became blockers. Along the way, I picked up new ones, usually the hard way. This post reflects how my thinking has evolved: what I still believe, don't, and have...
Read more →Read on May 22, 2025
What signs to look for and how to increase productivity with all-round skillset
Read more →Read on May 17, 2025
Recorded live at the Agent Engineering Session Day from the AI Engineer Summit 2025 in New York. Learn more at https://ai.engineer and purchase tickets to ou...
Read more →Read on May 11, 2025
Painting weddings for a few years now, I have spent a fair bit of time observing strangers move through a room.
Read more →Read on May 6, 2025
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Read more →Read on May 3, 2025
If you've ever tried to explain an idea that doesn’t quite fit in a box, this one’s for you
Read more →Read on May 3, 2025
A place for me to vent about my current obsessions.
Read more →Read on April 22, 2025
Read more →Read on April 5, 2025
I keep on attending otherwise interesting talks and conference sessions being flushed down the toilet by appalling deliveries. This is my plea to you: please, please, PLEASE: if you have to speak in public, follow these rules to ensure a standing ovation at the end of your talk.
Read more →Read on April 5, 2025
Read more →Read on April 4, 2025
How time-tested software engineering practices amplify the effectiveness of AI coding assistants.
Read more →Read on March 23, 2025
Airbnb recently completed our first large-scale, LLM-driven code migration, updating nearly 3.5K React component test files from Enzyme to use React Testing Library (RTL) instead. We’d originally…
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